Category Archive

If you click on “Cabled Earflap Hats” in the left sidebar, the post now includes instructions for the eleven-cable (all-over cable) hat. Huzzah! Thanks for your patience — I just finished test knitting it again, and I didn’t find any errors, but if you do, please let me know so I can correct them. Thanks!

It’s been all earflap hats, all the time over here lately. I bought a bunch of bulky merino from handpaintedyarn.com because I heard a rumor that they weren’t going to be carrying it any more. The only way I could think to justify the yarn purchase was to make a bunch of hats and sell them. This is my absolute fave earflap hat yarn, folks! It’s spectacular and I hope the rumors aren’t true. 😦

I was toying with doing a craft show this fall, but then decided to first put the hats in my etsy shop to see if they would sell there. So if you reached the blog searching for earflap hats but you’re not a knitter…you’re in luck! I’ve got a bunch of them! Head on over to the shop and take a look.

And if you’re a knitter, of course, the patterns are free, check the sidebar. I love that so many people have found them useful. 🙂

An actual exchange yesterday between myself and a very young employee, at a Large Craft Store (that kind of rhymes with Lindsay Lohan):

Me: I’ve looked around, but I’m obviously not looking in the right place…do you know where I could find a darning egg?

Emp: blank stare

Me:

Emp: I don’t know what that is.

Me: It’s a wooden egg-like thing, sometimes with a handle, that you use when you repair socks. I have some handknit socks that I need to repair…

Emp: (looking at me like I have two heads) people…fix…socks??

Me: uhh…yup. I guess I’ll have to find one on the Internet, huh.

Seriously, I would mot have been surprised if she said, “people…knit…socks?” …that’s how incredulous she was. It was pretty humorous. And if she only knew I’d spun the yarn…imagine the reaction then. 😉

Not much new on the knitting front…I finished these mittens for my wee-est one:

(I’m really fond of that photo, because you can see my little handspun-hanknit-socked toe in the corner. Sigh. Those are my favorite socks in the whole world.)

…I’m also writing a new pattern, I think — well, I’m knitting something and taking lots of notes. So I can’t really post about it until I decide if I want to submit it somewhere, or just let it out into the wild. 😉

Like many I’m sure, I didn’t want to admit that Ravelry was going to mean blog neglect. But it is what it is. I’ve been dyeing and spinning and knitting and adding things to the shop, in case you were wondering. 😉 Oh yeah, and getting ready for the holidays. We like to be done with as much as we can before Advent actually begins — I highly recommend it, if you celebrate Christmas and get troubled by the stress of it all.What’s new…merino from HPY:

I spun this for a Christmas gift — who knows if the recipient is lurking, so that’s all I’m gonna say about that. The merino roving from HPY is amazing — you would think it would be hard to work with because it comes to you soooo compacted, but it’s a dream to spin. This hat was made from another colorway:

I’ve knit this from the pattern several times with no issues, and I haven’t heard back from anyone that the pattern is wonky, so I’ll go ahead and post the first version, the six-cable hat. When the eleven-cable (all-over) variation is complete I’ll post it at the end. (The earflaps are the same for both patterns.) The pattern assumes a general knowledge of knitting and cabling abbreviations…if you’d like a full PDF that contains explanations of the increases, decreases, and cabling instructions, click here.

Cut yarn, leaving an 8” tail, and leave the flap on its DPN. Repeat for 2nd flap.

VARIATION ONE: SIX-CABLE HAT

Using a cable cast on, CO 12 stitches on the circular needle. Knit the 16 stitches from first ear flap in pattern (knit the knits, purl the purls), then CO 34 stitches. K16 from second ear flap, then CO 14. (Confused? Here is a video that shows what I’m talking about!)

Place marker and join, being careful not to twist stitches, and begin knitting in the round. As you knit around this first row, you’ll notice four gaps, on either side of each ear flap. When you get to those, you will K2tog to close them up. Knit Round 1 as follows:

Weave in all ends. (I like to leave the tails where I ended the earflaps long so that I can use them to tighten up of otherwise correct anything that looks wonky around the earflap join area.)

There are a few ways you can add straps — pick up 3-4 sts and knit in garter stitch or seed stitch until desired length. OR pick up 3-4 stitches and knit i-cord until desired length. OR, thread through three long pieces of yarn and braid the double-strands until desired length, then tie off and trim.

I was sucked in by the overpowering cuteness and allure of Saartje’s Booties. As soon as I saw Stacey’s, it was all over — I knew I must cast on as soon as possible. The knitting? A snap. Two hours tops. The finishing? Let’s just say my track record isn’t stellar.

The first version of the Cabled Earflap Hat pattern is ready to test! For starters, it’s infant-sized…about 15″ around when finished, to fit a 16″ head. You can download the PDF here…but please don’t link to it yet!